Caledonia woman hurt in Highway 6 pileup

CRASH

crash on 6

GLANBROOK A 43-year-old Caledonia woman is in hospital with critical injuries following a five-vehicle pile-up on Highway 6 South that a resident says is one of the worst he has seen since he moved there 15 years ago.

The accident happened at about 6:30 a.m. Thursday and was one of 24 crashes Ontario Provincial Police were dealing with on local highways between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. Speed and wet road conditions are believed to be the cause.

Witnesses told the OPP that the woman, believed to be behind the wheel of a Cadillac or a Buick, drifted across the centre lane of the highway and hit an oncoming vehicle. That started a chain reaction involving three other vehicles.

The highway, between Chippewa Road and Leeming Road, was closed until about noon for the police investigation and for cleanup.

Bill Ashurst, 50, said he was awakened by a “big bang” and believed his cat had knocked down something heavy inside his home. A short time later, he got up and looked out his front window and saw a car in a ditch across the highway from his home.

“Once I looked up and down the highway, there was wreckage everywhere,” Ashurst said.

He said the crash involved two pickup trucks and three cars.

OPP said four people were taken to hospital after several vehicles veered from the road, with some coming to rest in the ditch. Three of four drivers suffered minor injuries. OPP said other motorists stopped to call 911.

Police are investigating reports an unsafe lane change may have caused the crash.

“We’re trying to determine that,” OPP Sergeant Dave Woodford said.

No charges have been laid.

Ashurst said there are usually two or three accidents in front of his home every winter. He said motorists tend to speed because there are no stop lights between White Church Road and Caledonia.

“I think this is one of the worst accidents I’ve seen,” said Ashurst. “It’s always high speeds here. There’s nothing to slow anyone down. I’ve lived here 15 years and I’ve seen quite a bit. It’s a bad area.”

Woodford said police dealt with more accident calls Thursday morning than when a heavy clump of wet flurries went through Wednesday morning.

“We had a lot of calls where people went off the road and into the ditch,” he said. “People were just driving too fast.”